Weekly Fun Plan: Building Your Life of Jesus!

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Welcome to this week’s Weekly Fun Plan: Building Your Life on Jesus! If you haven’t already I highly recommend you read my introductory blog post “Faith-filled Fun: What Is It? And Why I Started It”. That post will give you some background into this blog and a little more in-depth explanation of my Weekly Fun Plans and how to use them.

This Week’s Theme: Building Your Life on Jesus!

This week our theme is all about “building”. Our Bible lesson is going to focus on the idea that Jesus is our teacher and building our lives on Him and what He teaches will give us a solid foundation. All our craft, snack, and activity ideas are going to be things that we can “build”. If you try anything in this week’s plan don’t forget to share your experiences on social media! Tag us @faithfilledfun on Instagram or use the hashtag #faithfilledfun. New Weekly Fun Plans drop each Monday so stay up to date with the blog each week by subscribing to my email list!

Bible Lesson: What to Read or Watch this week

If you have younger children and haven’t already, I highly recommend downloading the “Bible for Kids” app from the App Store. This is an app for children that uses fun moving graphics and sounds to tell your children stories in the Bible. Read the stories yourself or use the audio to have them read aloud to you.

Since this week we are focusing on learning how to build our lives on Jesus, here are some great resources to read/watch:

If you have young children (ages 0-8):

Read or listen to “The King and the Kingdom” story on the Bible for Kids app OR

Watch the “The King and the Kingdom” Bible Adventure episode on YouTube. Bible Adventure is a kids-based YouTube show created by LifeKids and LifeChurch. These are the creators of the popular “YouVersion Bible” app for adults and the “Bible for Kids” app I mentioned earlier, so the episodes coordinate perfectly.

If you have older children/teens (ages 9-18):

Read Matthew 7:24-28 (The Wise and Foolish Builders) to your kids or encourage them to read it during their own personal study time.

Bible Lesson: Questions to Ask Your Kids/Discuss this week

If you watched “The King and the Kingdom” Bible Adventure episode, you’ll see the question they focus on is:

“How do I learn to live God’s way?” And the answer is “Jesus is my teacher.”

If you have little ones (ages 0-8):

I would focus on that one question this week, and work on having them memorize the answer. Ask them that same question every morning or evening and see if they can answer it.

If you have older children (ages 9-18):

Here are some additional questions you can discuss with them throughout the week:

What tools do I need to build my life on Jesus?
How does Jesus teach us?
What are some things I can change or do this week to help me build a stronger foundation on Jesus?
How is God’s Kingdom different than the world?

Bonus teaching point: Since this week your kids are learning that Jesus is our teacher, teach/discuss with them what the red letters specify in the Bible.

Bible Lesson: Memory Verse

Memorizing scripture is such a vital skill to teach our children at a young age. Recalling and reciting scripture that they’ve memorized with help them as they grow and go through trials in life. It will also encourage them, equip them to go out and be little disciples of Jesus, and it will strengthen their own faith as they get older. However, memorizing scripture can be hard for adults to do so we often neglect to teach our kids to do it or assume they’re too young. BUT if your toddler can memorize the theme song to their favorite show or the steps to navigate a smartphone they absolutely have the mental capacity to memorize simple Bible verses.

This week let’s have your kids work on memorizing John 13:13, and if they watched the Bible Adventure episode for this week then they’ve already learned some fun motions to help them remember it. I recommend practicing reciting the verse each morning over breakfast or before they leave for school and maybe even again before bed. Make it a part of your routine and you’ll be amazed at how fast they will begin to pick it up.

memory verse John 13:13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am."

Supplies needed for this week’s activities

Here is a quick list of all the supplies that you will need in order to complete all the suggested crafts, activities, and snacks for this week’s plan. For a list of my most used craft supplies, and things I will be utilizing often in future Weekly Fun Plans be sure to check out my Links page.

Construction Paper
Non-toxic Paint
Kids Art Smock (optional but recommended)
Glue Sticks or Elmer’s Liquid Glue
Scissors
Markers
Photo of your child (approximately 2″ in size, to be cut out)
Pretzel Sticks
Cheese Slices
Grapes (whichever kind you like best)
Mini Marshmallows (optional)

Snack: Build-a-Bonfire Snack (pretzels, cheese & grapes)

After practicing your memory verse or going over the discussion questions, have some fun “building” and enjoying these fun Build-a-Bonfire Snacks made easily with pretzel sticks, cheese, & grapes. If you want to add an extra sweet little treat, add a few mini marshmallows to the ends of some pretzel sticks so your kids can pretend to cook their own marshmallows over their bonfire.

build-a-bonfire snack with grapes, cheese, pretzels and mini marshmallows

Crafts:

For this week’s crafts, we are building handprint bonfires & picture tents. Both crafts are wonderful ways to capture a snapshot of your kids and make great memories to save or sweet gifts for family members like grandparents.

Handprint Bonfires:

Our first craft can get a little messy so for easy clean up make sure to cover any surfaces or clothes before you begin. These Handprint Bonfires are super quick, and a great sentimental craft, and if your kids are like mine, they’ll LOVE the chance to get their hands messy. Follow the link for step-by-step instructions for this craft.

Picture Tents:

For our second craft this week, we’re focusing on “building” some fun Picture Tents. Again these are super easy to make and create adorable little snapshots in time to look back on when your kids have grown. Follow the link for an easy step-by-step guide.

Activities:

With our theme this week of “Building Your Life on Jesus” here are a few extra ideas for activities to do with your children. Feel free to come up with your own ideas too:

Build an obstacle course in your house or in the yard.
Build a pillow/blanket fort in your home and enjoy your bonfire snacks inside your fort.
If you have a baby/toddler: Have fun building with blocks.
If you have older kids and access to wood/tools: Try to build a birdhouse or other project.
Make a list of all the ways that Jesus teaches us things. (Example: Through the Bible, teachers/pastors at church, experiences/trials in life, worship music, etc.) write each one on a block of wood, and build a tower with your labeled blocks.

Parenting Tip of the Week:

One easy way we can help our children build a strong foundation of faith is through the music we listen to in our homes and in the car. It can be such a passive activity having music on in the background while we cook dinner, while they play with their toys, or while we drive them to school or practice, but it can make such an impact. Fill your home with praise and worship music whenever possible. You’ll see the greatest effects of this when you suddenly hear your children singing along to the words of your favorite worship song. Check out my Spotify for playlists I’ve created specifically with Christian Songs for Kids and My Current Worship Favs!

Prayers:

Lastly, I like to end each Weekly Fun Plan with some example prayers for your week. One is to pray with your kids, maybe before they get on the bus in the morning, before a meal, or before bed, and the other prayer is for you, the parent, to pray over your kids throughout the week.

Prayer to say with your kids this week:

Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus to be my teacher! Help me to use all the tools you have given me, to learn from Him, and to live a life like He would. Amen.

Prayer to pray over your kids this week:

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for (your child’s name) and the blessing that (he/she) is. I know as (his/her) parent I hold a great responsibility to help teach and guide (him/her) to build a strong foundation of faith in you. I don’t take that responsibility lightly and I pray that you would shine through me in all I say and do. I pray that seeds will be planted and that faith will take root and grow in my child’s heart. I pray that they would find joy in reading your word and would continue to build their life with you at the center and Jesus as their teacher. Amen.

Have an amazing week and don’t forget to subscribe to my email list and follow me on Instagram @faithfilledfun to stay up to date with the blog!